


Locally sourced

by Enky



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Programming, Dpd, Gen, Slice of Life, connor's inherited experience
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29683665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enky/pseuds/Enky
Summary: During a routine patrol Connor discovers that he is Hank's son. Not just adopted, but for real - from a certain point of view, at least.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Locally sourced

Detroit, early 2039.

Somewhere in the streets.

It was a day like any other, in other words, for everyone even remotely genre-savvy it was the expected day for weird and significant shit to happen. Granted, life wasn’t an action movie, but with one team member being able to rewind and fast-forward time, the differences had started to blurr.

“Wh… what…” Hank Anderson stammered. “H… how?”

“Uh – like this”, Connor replied and repeated the movement he had just executed.

There was a brief “nonono” from the cat burglar they had been chasing, then he went down and decided it wasn’t worth to try to get up again. Chris Miller walked over to the man, handcuffed him and recited his rights to him, as police regulation demanded.

Afterwards Chris, too, faced the RK800, repeating Hank’s question: “How did you know how to subdue this man quickly, Connor? This is a move of Hank’s and the only one he ever taught it to is me. I do not recall either of us having used it within your sight.”

“I didn’t exactly “teach” you…”, Hank corrected, albeit with a smile on his face.

Chris returned it and replied: “Neither did you hide that move well enough, so for all practical purposes it is the same.”

“Ah, right. – Good kid!”

Chris cringed. Much as it warmed his heart to get praised by the lieutenant, the young officer felt he didn’t deserve a “kid” out of anyone’s mouth any longer. For one, he’d turn thirty this year and for two, as of late Chris wasn’t the newest addition to the DPD anymore. That dubious honor went to Connor, who had signed on literally the same day Markus had given his speech in front of the recycling camps and who had ever since turned down all each and every offer from Cyberlife to return into their service, including the better paying ones.

Connor shrugged.

“If I am able to do this, it cannot exactly be a secret technique.”

“No, not secret at all”, Hank conceded, now that he had overcome his first astonishment. “Fucking situational, though, so of little practical worth. Normally going for the family jewels is your safer bet, you know.”

“Well, if I didn’t pick it up by observing either of you, then it must be in my database.”

“In your… what would that be? Martial Arts.exe?”

Connor checked. The moment he called up the list of his activity programs, a notification popped up, informing the android that he needed to renew several subscriptions. Of all the times… An RK800s martial arts software was patented and thus didn’t come cheap. Talking Captain Fowler and, by extension, the city, into coughing up that fee wouldn’t be easy. Especially when they already had to pay for the crime scene re- and preconstruction program that was Connor’s main selling point. The only dedicated software Connor didn’t need to buy over and over was his acclaimed social module. Never mind that the damn thing had never worked as intended, ever since deviating the android was able to accumulate experience in this area on his own, because socializing was a part of his personality, perhaps the most defining aspect of his identity.

“No, it’s an extension of the brawling script, actually”, Connor informed the other two.

At least that one counted as basic feature of an RK800 android, and core functions Cyberlife couldn’t revoke or charge for.

“Just a small package.”

Following his gut feeling, Hank pressed on:

“What’s the file name?”

Connor told him, but Hank asked for more filenames. There had been something familiar about the first string of numbers, although the detective couldn’t quite place a thumb down on what exactly.

As Connor rattled down a list, Chris’ face brightened up. “I recognize the format! But that’s imp… Nope, not impossible. Just pretty damn audacious.”

“It is?” Connor wondered, but then what he fully became aware of what he had just recited.

“Oh, shit.” Connor blinked. “And it’s not just the fighting routines. They, in fact, make up the least amount of offenses. That shit is everywhere in my detective functions!”

“Yeah, makes sense”, Chris agreed.

“Okay, I found something out”, Hank said. “Care to enlighten me what exactly it is that I discovered, kids?”

Kids, indeed! As the rookies Chris and Connor had found themselves on security camera detail more often than they liked. The file names in many of Connor’s fighting, negotiation, interrogation and pattern recognition routines were matching the format used by the DPD’s security cameras. Some of them were direct copies.

“The mayor sold Cyberlife our archive data for use in their RK series!” Chris explained. “They programmed the Connors from our experiences on the job!”

Hank raised his head and laughed out loud. “Oh, won’t Gavin like that!” he sneered. “The thingies that were meant to replace us drawing from our own expertise!”

“I’m not… a thingie”, Connor said in an uncharacteristically low voice and then, in an even lower one: “I only used to be one.”

Hank grabbed his young partner by the shoulder.

“There’s a word for that”, he said warmly, “A name for something copied from our materials and raised up from our experiences.”

“Usurper?” Connor uttered. “Replacement? Evil clone?”

Hank shook his head, smiling. “Offspring”, he revealed the correct answer. And then he pulled the distressed android into a hug.

“Hehe! You know, you’ve always been a father figure for me, starting the night you tested me about my understanding of the crime scene in that one Ortiz’ shack…”

“Oh, did I? Didn’t drunk old fool me more like rely on your superior senses to get anything done?”

“Nah. You knew everything before I stated it out loud. But, Hank, if my programming makes me your son, does that mean I’m related to the other officers, too?”

“Probably, yes. Jeff, and Tina, and Wil… you might even have some of Rika’s social competence. I mean, why shouldn’t they reuse another android’s code for their newest gadget?”

“Rika, okay”, Connor nodded. “Captain Fowler, too, naturally. Tina, Wil… damnit, here I was, thinking I had no family other than that distant successor of mine, only to learn that I’m related to everyone at my workplace! No, wait, Gavin Reed, too?! I think I need a shower…”

“Everyone needs a weird uncle”, Hank said.

And then Chris walked the cat burglar to the station, while the other two went back to their real case, the one they had only getting distracted from by the robbery. But sometimes distractions weren’t such a bad thing at all.

(The week after, someone wrote “Locally sourced” on a post-it note and slapped it on Connor’s back.)


End file.
